OLYMPICS AS GLOBAL MASS EDUCATION
Okello Oculi worries why the African Union did not boycott ’Paris 2024’
AFRICA OLYMPIC 2063 will almost certainly be continental in geographical spread with ABUJA as the anchor. Difference will be spread out.
LAGOS will host WOMEN’S FOOTBALL matches; CASABLANCA will host MEN’S FOORBALL matches; CAPE TOWN will host several water-based sports; KINSHASA will host a CANOE RELAY RACE on the CONGO RIVER; NAIROBI will host ATHELETICS; ADDIS ABABA will host MEN’S MARATHON and STEEPLECHASE. Ethiopia’s legendary hero ABEBE BIKILA shall look down with pleasure.
ALEXANDRIA will host TABLE TENNIS and BOXING; ALGIERS will host GYMNASTICS (MEN and WOMEN); KIGALI will host AFRICA’s NEW SPORTS as a contribution to that Olympics tradition of creativity.
The OLYMPICS has always been a gigantic and dramatic moment of public education for athletes, their immediate and media audiences. For Africa and peoples of African descent, the theme of affirming their rare humanity and quest for dignity and freedom. Jesse Owen’s exceptional performances in Berlin drove Adolf Hitler to flee from the stadium by demonstrating the superior talents of an African-American, and making nonsense of his claims about the ‘’ARYAN RACE’’ – an ideological poison he had borrowed from India’s caste system.
AT the 1968 Olympics in Mexico, two African-American athletes punched the sky with folded fists to affirm the symbol of ‘’BLACK POWER’’ fighting for freedom to bloom from under the brutal geological rocks of American racism. The protest by Carlos and Brown on the medal dais was complements by the explosive triumph of Kipchoge Keino from Kenya in long distance races.
In 1972 John Aki-Bua from Uganda beat a team of World and Olympic record holders in 400 Metres Hurdles event. According to Professor Idris Makward thereby debunking the racist slur that Blacks are leaders in sprint races in which they run like their kith and kin in tropical forests. A hurdles race demanded a combination of brain and brawn which only found in snow climates.
In 1976, the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) took the decision that Africa’s competitors would boycott the Montreal Olympics because a team from New Zealand was allowed to participate despite that country’s support for ‘’APARTHEID RACISM’’ in South Africa. Freedom and human dignity for Black people in South Africa must be defended.
It is striking that the African Union – successor to the OAU – did not declare a boycott of ‘’Paris 2024’’ Olympics as a rebuke for France’s annual haul of 500 billion American Dollars out of 14 former colonies through a a criminal treaty imposed at independence and defended with assassinations and military coups against African leaders that struggled to end it.
‘’Paris 2024 Olympics’’ had many educational merits. One clear message was that Africa takes part in a very limited number of events. Events like Women and Men’s ‘’KEIRIN’ and ‘’OMNIUM’’ events; PISTOL and SOOTING; WATER POLO by men and women; artistic gymnastics under water; artistic diving off boards into water; various inds of Gymnastics ; Lawn Tennis, Ping Pong( or table tennis); Hockey; Golf.
It was a pleasure seeing a 17 years-old Japanese girl combining music with creative body movements to enable her win gold in the new ‘’B-Boy’’ (Break-Dance) event. A relaxed, almost indifferent Ian Kerr from New Zealand saunter towards a High Jump pit and make a gold-winning jump, crawl out and run away in a self-directed victory run; leaving to the commentator worry about the prospect of a javelin piercing his back.
A surprise Vollyball team from Kenya contested against the current world champion team from Poland. The crowd of spectators cheered each block or spike that they made as they supported an ‘’under-dog’’ Wanyonyi from Kenya defended David Rudisha’s legacy in winning 800 metres run – winning it by a ‘’whisper.’’
‘’We have witnessed History !’’ a commentator when SIFAN HASSAN, a Somali woman running for the Netherlands – won the Marathon. She had, in earlier Olympics won the 5,000 and 10,000 metres races. ‘’What a brilliant woman, a brilliant for athletics’’.
Paris 2204 Olympic was determined to honour women. For the first time the Women’s Marathon was the last item, not the Men’s Marathon. The athletics events was ended with a Women’s 4 x 400 Relay.
Botswana shocked all by winning the 200 Metres sprint –usually won by a Jamaican (Usain Bolt) or an American – missed the 4 x400 Men’s Relay by one more step. Their Anchorman, the 200 Metres Gold medalist had lost his mother in May 2024; carrying an incredible gift for her and a nation in a heart wearing pain.
The Olympic Committee must unlock factors where talents of male and female individuals and groups are suppressed by poverty, cultural and religious beliefs. ALGERIA got Gold in Gymnastics from a girl living in France, while Safina Hassan won Olympic Marathon away from her native Somalia.Prof Oculi writes from Abuja
